Tank-float.



PATENTED AUG. 28, 1906.

F. M. STEVENS.

TANK FLOAT. armour rum: HOV. a0, 1904.

witnesses III not-II PIT-II m. Unaware", n. c

UNITED STATES PATENT onsioa.

FREDERICK M. STEVENS, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO SCOVlLL MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTI- CUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

TANK-FLOAT.

Patented Aug. 28, 1906.

Application filed November 30, 1904. Serial No. 234,937.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK M. STEVENS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Waterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a certain new and useful Im rovement in Tank- Floats, of which the to lowing is a full, clear, and exact description.

The sheet-copper balls used as floats in watercloset and other tanks for automatically closing the tank-filling valves are commonly furnished to the trade in halves, ready to be closed and soldered together, and the spud to receive the operating lever or stem is then soldered on. Spnds have been applied also by a riveting or heading-up process. In the common float the halves are male and female, and hence require separate dies for their manufacture, and these halves, therefore, must be selected and fitted in order to match and form a complete sphere.

The object of the invention is to provide a float whose halves are alike and to one of which halves the spud is applied by expanding it Within the same.

I he invention consists of a tank-float composed of two hemispherical shells, each of which h as on its edge a plain or straight-flange extending half-way around and a pocketfiange extending around the remainder of the edge, so that the shells may be united to form a water-tight sphere by sliding the plain or straight flanges into the pocket-flanges, respectively, of oppositely-arranged shells, and t en closing down the pocket-flanges over the plain or straight flanges and soldering the joint. One of the shells before uniting them Is supplied with a spud to receive the 0 erating lever or stem, but otherwise the she ls are exactly alike and may be made by the same set of dies or tools, and when sold to the trade without the spud attached thereto are interchangeable, instead of being male and female, or rights and lefts, as heretofore commonly produced.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating the invention, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is a side elevation of one half. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the other half. Fig. 3 is a cross-section of the two halves united. Figs.

4 and 5 are enlarged sections of the joints opposite which said views are arranged. Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section of the spud detached. Fig. 7 is a cross-section of the lower part of one of the halves, showing a modification in the manner of attaching the spud.

The two halves 1 and 2 of the float are alike, and each comprises a hemispherical shell of copper or other non-corrosive metal or substance, having half of its edge provided with a plain straight flange 3, projecting therefrom at right ang es to its axis, and a pocket-flange 4, similarly projectin from the other half, so that when these haTves are invertedly arranged and their flanged edges brought into parallel planes and the halves then moved toward each other the plain flanges will slide into the pocket-flanges of the respective halves, after which these pocket-flanges are closed down 11 on the plain flanges and solder is applied to 'tlie 'oint so formed to secure it and make the joint fluid-tight. Before the halves are united the spud 5 is applied to one of them. This spud is passed through a hole in the half to which it is to be a aplicd, so that its lateral flange 6 rests upon tl ie outside and its inner cup-shaped projection 7 is then expanded or swaged down upon the reinforce or washer 8, arranged next t is shell on the inside. As shown, the end of the halves may be provided with a depressed seat 9 to receive the flange of the spud, and, as shown in Fig. 3, a washer 10 of some soft material may be interposed between the flange and seat 9 to render the joint air and fluid tight, or, as shown in Fig 7, the spud may be painted with some suitable substance 11 for the same purpose. The spud instead of being of three diameters, as shown in Fig. 6, may be of two diametersthat is to say, it may be provided with the cup-shaped projection 7, and the exterior portion may be of a single diameter, which diameter may be that of the flange 6. This enlarged diameter forms, as does the flange in the other form, a shoulder which is seated in the de )ressed portion of the float. The halves may 7e nested together for economy in packing and transporting. The shells may be plain, corrugatec or otherwise formed.

The particular forms of spuds herein shown both halves of the float.

What I claim is A tank-float, composed of two hemispherical shells, each having on its edge a plain or straight flange extending half-way around and a pocket-flange extending the remainder of the Way around, the plain or straight flanges entered into the poeketeflan es respectively of oppositely-arranged shells and the pocket-flanges closed down upon the plain or straight flanges and soldered, and a spud in one of the shells, said shells aside from the spud being identical and capable of production from a single set of tools or dies.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 29th day of November, A. 1.). 20

FR EDER IGK M. STEVEN S.

Witnesses J. H. FILLING, G. F. HoDGEs. 

